Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC) subsidiary, Cavitex Infrastructure Corporation (CIC), has filed a criminal complaint for perjury, usurpation, slander and violation of the Anti-Graft Law against PEATC Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Dioscoro Esteban following the latter's filing of a petition for mandamus with the Court of Appeals and his public statements attacking CIC.
Motorists form a long queue heading out of the Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway en route to Metro Manila via Coastal Road in this July 2023 photo. Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation subsidiary, Cavitex Infrastructure Corporation (CIC), has filed a criminal complaint for perjury, usurpation, slander and violation of the Anti-Graft Law against PEATC Officer-in-Charge Dioscoro Esteban. PNA
CIC's action seeks to make Esteban, a public officer, accountable for misrepresenting the PEATC in filing the petition for mandamus against CIC.
Esteban stated under oath that he is the duly authorized representative of PEATC despite his lack of board authority.
Further, he has made various public statements besmirching CIC's reputation.
According to the complaint, PEATC does not have a board of directors. Still, OIC Esteban misrepresented the fact of his authority to file the mandamus case when he swore under oath in his petition that PEATC legally authorized him to file the case. He also filed the petition through private lawyers, which is a gross violation of the rules of the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel (the legitimate lawyers for GOCCs like PEATC) and against the issuances of the Office of the President.
"The statements he made in public against CIC made false accusations of crimes and defects and therefore dishonored the reputation of CIC," said CIC's Atty. Criselda Funelas is the complainant in the Ombudsman case.
Atty. Funelas added that the act of a public officer claiming to be authorized when he is, in fact, not authorized is a crime of usurpation. The same claim, made under oath, is perjurious. His acts were in bad faith and showed manifest partiality against CIC and gross inexcusable negligence, which are crimes under Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
"As a public officer, OIC Esteban must be fully accountable for his Illegal acts," Atty. Funelas concluded.
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